Sustainable Acquisition and Green Purchasing
The Medical and Environmental Management Division (MEMD), Code 250, has a role in oversight over environmental programs in waste management and sustainable acquisitons (formerly known as affirmative procurement). Proper implementation of sustainable acquisitions will assure Goddard's compliance with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Section 6002 (40 CFR 247), Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines for Products Containing Recovered Materials and the Biopreferred program under the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture; Executive Order 13693, Planning for Federal Sustainability in the Next Decade; and the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) 23.4, Use of Recovered Materials and Biobased Products. More specific agency procedures are addressed in NASA's Procedural Requirements, NPR 8530.1B, NASA Sustainable Acquisition.
MEMD assists organizations in obtaining the list of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) designated items, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) biobased products, and in sharing results and assisting in any market research necessary to determine the availability of items that are environmentally preferable. A comprehensive product list for recycled content items and programmatic information can be found by accessing the U.S. EPA's catalog. The USDA's Biopreferred items and information including vendors can be found at https://www.biopreferred.gov/.
Each organization is responsible to consider the environmentally preferred products into their acquisitions as prescribed in FAR part 23.4. Preference must be given to products containing recycled content, or biobased content if they meet the cost and performance criteria. A justification for not procuring the guideline items is required as prescribed in FAR part 23.403-4. Agency affirmative procurement programs must require that 100 percent of purchases of EPA or USDA-designated items contain recovered material or biobased content, respectively, unless the item cannot be acquired —
(i) Competitively within a reasonable time frame;
(ii) Meeting reasonable performance standards; or
(iii) At a reasonable price.
Program Contacts
Darlene Squibb 301-286-6137
